Detroit Tigers get walked off again in Minnesota, lose to Twins, 5-4

MINNEAPOLIS — Less than 20 minutes into Monday's game, the desperate-to-win Detroit Tigers were in a deep hole.

A first-inning grand slam from Max Kepler, who has drilled four of his six home runs off the Tigers this season, gave the Minnesota Twins a sturdy advantage. The Tigers climbed out of the early deficit, but they still lost, 5-4, in the first of three games at Target Field.

Detroit dropped to 14-27, now 11½ games behind the Twins for first place in the American League Central.

Falling behind 4-0 on Kepler's blast was detrimental, simply because of the Tigers' woeful offense so far this season. The Tigers, entering Monday, had scored four or more runs in six of 40 games.

After Monday, it's seven of 41 games.

The Tigers tied the game, 4-4, on Miguel Cabrera's RBI single off right-handed reliever Joe Smith in the seventh inning. Two innings later, the Twins won the first matchup, 5-4, thanks to Gio Urshela's walk-off single in the ninth.

In the first inning, the Twins ambushed right-hander Elvin Rodriguez to spoil the beginning of his first MLB start. The 24-year-old made his MLB debut April 10 as a reliever, then got sent down to Triple-A Toledo to build up his stamina as a starting pitcher.

Rodriguez needed 24 pitches for the first three outs.

With one out, Rodriguez allowed three baserunners to reach safely: Luis Arraez (four-pitch walk), Carlos Correa (first-pitch single, fastball) and Jorge Polanco (second-pitch single, changeup).

Kepler, after back-to-back balls, received a third-pitch changeup from Rodriguez over the heart of the plate. He didn't miss the mistake, driving the ball 408 feet over the right-field wall with a 108 mph exit velocity.

The big swing put the Twins ahead 4-0.

The Tigers could've scored the first run of the game, but they stranded two runners in scoring position. Cabrera singled and Javier Báez doubled, both with two outs, but Harold Castro lined out to left field.

Still, the Tigers put up a fight the rest of the way.

Four runs were scattered across nine innings, with 10 hits, two walks and 10 strikeouts. The Tigers finished 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position, stranding nine runners on base.

Cabrera, Báez, Eric Haase, Jonathan Schoop and Spencer Torkelson had two-hit performances.

Rodriguez gave up four runs on four hits and three walks with four strikeouts across five innings, throwing 43 of 75 pitches for strikes. The Tigers' bullpen — Joe Jimenez in the sixth, Wily Peralta in the seventh, Alex Lange in the eighth and Andrew Chafin in the ninth — didn't concede a run until Chafin took the mound.

A rough start

Despite a 24-pitch first inning, Rodriguez settled down and posted four straight scoreless frames.

He tossed nine pitches in the second inning, 11 in the third, 11 in the fourth and 20 in the fifth. After Kepler's grand slam, the Twins didn't record another hit until Arraez's two-out single in the fifth.

Rodriguez pitched a perfect second inning to get back on track. For the third out, he struck out Byron Buxton swinging with an 86.3 mph slider. He recorded three swings and misses during the at-bat: two sliders and one changeup.

Arraez opened the third with a five-pitch walk and put Rodriguez in a dangerous situation against Correa. The Tigers' defense, though, aided its young starter with a double play.

Then, Rodriguez struck out Polanco swinging with a changeup to end the third.

Rodriguez pitched a perfect fourth, and in the fifth, he worked around a walk and a single. He faced Correa for the third time, only this time with two runners in scoring position and two outs.

Correa grounded out to third base.

For his 75 pitches, Rodriguez used 34 four-seam fastballs (45%), 19 sliders (25%), 18 changeups (24%) and four curveballs (5%). He earned four swings and misses, including three with his changeup and two with his slider.

He also had 12 called strikes.

The slow comeback

The Tigers scored their first run in the second inning, thanks to Daz Cameron's RBI force out, but the offense didn't start clicking until Twins right-hander Chris Archer exited his start.

Archer, who threw 72 pitches, allowed one run on three this and two walks with four strikeouts in four innings. He was replaced by righty reliever Griffin Jax for the next two innings.

The Tigers capitalized on the pitching change.

Schoop crushed a 430-foot solo home run — the second-longest by a Tiger this season — to left-center field in the fifth inning.

He chopped the Tigers' deficit to 4-2.

In the sixth, Eric Haase followed Torkelson's two-out double by driving in the rookie first baseman with an RBI single. And Cabrera tied the game, 4-4, with his RBI single in the seventh.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers get walked off in Minnesota, lose to Twins, 5-4